CSCE News Release

For Immediate Release
October 18, 1999
Contact: Chadwick R. Gore
(202) 225-1901

Washington, DC-"Since mid-1992, Uzbekistan has been one of the most
repressive New Independent States under President Islam Karimov," said
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe Chairman Rep. Christopher
H. Smith (R-NJ) today at a Commission hearing, "The State of Democratization
and Human Rights in Uzbekistan."

"There are no registered opposition parties, all media are tightly
censored and there are no independent human rights monitoring
organizations," said Smith. "Religious liberty has also been challenged.
While for the most part the Jewish community has not encountered
difficulties from government bodies, and President Karimov has pursued good
relations with Israel, Evangelical Christian denominations have faced
official harassment. Moreover, since 1997, an ongoing crackdown on Islamic
believers has been underway. That has been documented in the State
Department's Human Rights Report and many reports by non-governmental human
rights groups. Uzbekistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in
December and a presidential election in January 2000 against this general
background."

Commissioner Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA) commented, "From my
travels, I saw that the fear of Islamic extremism is one of the main
motivating factors behind the Uzbek Government's crackdown on all religious
groups...However, fear does not absolve governments of their
responsibilities to protect the rights of citizens to religious liberty...By
prohibiting unregistered religious gatherings and criminalizing free
religious speech, Uzbekistan violates its OSCE commitments to religious
liberty and free expression."

"No democratic state can ever justify what reliable reports tell us
about continuing torture, extorted confessions, or the planting of false
evidence. Even in circumstances where a genuine threat exists to the
well-being of the state, rule of law and due process norms must be followed
in order to insure that human rights are protected," he said.
Pitts concluded, "The current government policy of violating human
rights of Uzbek citizens is an obstacle that must be overcome. Uzbekistan's
full potential cannot be realized until these human rights issues are dealt
with in a constructive and just way."

John Beyrle, Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large and Special Advisor
to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States, testified,
"Uzbekistan has shown little progress in democratization. The U.S. will
likely discourage other governments and the OSCE field missions from
monitoring the upcoming December and January elections."
"Free and open media are vital to the growth of true democracy,[yet]
soviet-style press censorship remains pervasive; the rule of law remains
weak; and, the exercise of religion is hindered by the 1998 restrictive law
on religion," he said.

His Excellency Sodyq Safaev, Ambassador of the Republic of
Uzbekistan commented, "Uzbeks today face the numerous challenges of building
a secular democracy and opposing the threats of religious fundamentalism and
political extremism. ... The main achievement of Uzbekistan during the short
period of its independence was that it has managed to avoid altogether the
disintegration of society, economic collapse and chaos. ...76% of the
population of Uzbekistan is satisfied with the government's job. ... They
see that all institutions of statehood and government are functioning and
providing them whatever the state should provide to its citizens. ...The
people also see that they have been freed from the shackles of the state
economy. ...The people also see that now, at last, for the first time this
century, they are genuinely free to travel abroad. ...Both individuals and
ethnic groups are free to leave the country, should they so desire. Although
Uzbekistan is not fully democratic in the sense that the West understands
it, although mistakes have been done, although plenty of shortcomings still
exist, it is certainly the freest system under which Uzbeks have ever lived.
And [the] nation is firmly committed to the further strengthening of secular
democracy and [the] free market," he concluded.

Cassandra Cavanaugh, Researcher, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki,
presented a very different perspective: "By the Fall of 1998, ...some have
estimated that over 80% of all working mosques were closed."
"We see the following pattern of human rights violations: Arrests
are clearly discriminatory, based on evidence of piety such as beard-wearing
(now extremely uncommon), regular attendance at suspect mosques or
individual prayer or Koranic study alone or in groups; Police often plant
evidence which forms the basis for initial charges: small amounts of
narcotics, ammunition, or increasingly, banned religious literature, or a
combination; The authorities act as hostage-takers, arresting family members
or occupying family homes to coerce the appearance of a wanted person.
Family members have also been sentenced to prison terms solely on the basis
of their affiliation with suspected religious figures; From beginning to
end, the right to a fair hearing is violated, with accused persons most
often deprived of the right to counsel, held in incommunicado detention, and
tortured. There are increasing reports of deaths in detention. Being accused
is usually tantamount to being convicted, as the presumption of evidence is
entirely lacking," she said.

Alarmingly, she noted, "The government is building what can only be
described as a concentration camp reportedly exclusively for Muslim
prisoners at Jaslyk, in the ecological disaster zone of the Ust-Yurt
plateau. According to the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan there have been
at least 38 deaths in custody in this facility."

"The U.S. should move beyond talking about the threat of terrorism
not justifying repression....Recent experience shows that the threat of
sanctions can bring about change....Therefore, we urge you to make
Uzbekistan subject to all measures provided for under the Religious Freedom
Act," she concluded.

Paul Goble, Communications Director, Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, noted that "Tashkent is converting Islam from a religion to a
political force of enormous and potentially destabilizing force." Noting the
building of two prison camps for political opponents, he noted, "These camps
will resemble the GULAG of the Soviet past, and even if no one is ever
confined to them, their existence will cast a chilling shadow over the
population."

"Uzbekistan's most open question is "after Karimov, what?" said
Goble.

Lawrence Uzzell, Director, Keston Institute, commented, "It cannot
be stressed too often that Uzbekistan's 1998 law on religion is the most
repressive in all of the former Soviet Union. Only in Uzbekistan has the
state formally criminalized religious dissent, by formally amending its
criminal code to impose prison terms of up to five years for unauthorized
religious activity. Unlike Russia, which allows even unregistered groups to
gather in the homes of their own members, Uzbekistan explicitly prohibits
any kind of communal activity by such a group-even a Bible study in one of
its member's apartments. By law Uzbekistan explicitly bans all forms of
missionary activity, bans religious education at the elementary or secondary
level, and subjects all imported religious literature to state censorship."
Abdurahim Polat, Chairman of the Birlik Party and exiled opposition
leader, noted "Preparations for elections in Uzbekistan are going ahead with
full speed, which are going on totally against democratic principles. The
opposition is banned from participating in these campaigns. Exiled leaders
of democratic opposition decided to delay their return to Uzbekistan. These
elections will not have any positive effect on the state of the nation. On
the contrary, it may have a negative effect and destabilize the situation.
It seems like civil war is unavoidable."

"With the assistance of the international community, mainly from the
member countries of the OSCE, it is still possible to stop the bloodshed and
find the solution in the best interests of the Uzbek nation," he concluded.
 

Chadwick R. Gore
Communications Director
U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6064
Chadwick.Gore@mail.house.gov
www.house.gov/csce/
(202) 225-1901; fax (202) 225-4394